


where the moon hangs

by yodalorian



Series: after all [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Chinese Mythology & Folklore, F/M, Family Feels, Nostalgia, Reminiscing, sokka's a dad now, this is kinda sad, underage technically i guess but he's an adult and she's the immortal moon goddess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26207830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yodalorian/pseuds/yodalorian
Summary: "He hasn’t seen her, the real her, since that night exactly two decades ago. Something heavy formed in his chest as he remembered their stolen glances at each other, their stolen walks in the moonlight. Stolen kisses that could never be repeated in the sunlight, because she had been engaged. It seemed like the universe always had some cruel way of keeping them apart."Exactly twenty years after Sokka and Yue lost each other forever, she comes to visit. They imagine what could've been and what never was.
Relationships: Sokka/Yue (Avatar)
Series: after all [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942849
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20





	where the moon hangs

**Author's Note:**

> i finished atla today and i have a lot of feelings

“The sky is so pretty tonight, Daddy.” 

“It sure is.” Sokka pulled his daughter onto his lap as she stared up into the night sky. He watched her more than he watched the sky. He saw the glittering stars reflected in her wide blue eyes, just like how the stars glimmered in the dark, quiet waves beneath them.

“Hey, look at that.” Sokka pointed up at the moon, a luminous, silvery orb suspended in the velvety blackness. It was full and round tonight. Sokka wasn’t a waterbender who could draw power from the moon like his sister, but his Water Tribe blood still tingled a little when the moon was full. “You were named after the moon, Yue,” he whispered to his daughter.

“Wow,” Yue whispered back, awed. “It’s so big.” 

“It’s got big arms to hug you every night.” Yue giggled as Sokka hugged her tightly himself. They sat there quietly, looking up at the gleaming moon. Finally, Suki called for bedtime from inside the house.

“Go ahead.” Sokka lifted Yue from his lap and set her on her feet. “I’ll come by in a bit and wish you good night.” Yue nodded and ran off to find her mother.

Sokka stood and leaned forward against the balcony, turning his face upward. He imagined the moonlight washing over him, making his skin glow. A shiver ran down his spine as he felt a presence he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Sokka turned. “Yue.”

Not his daughter. The first Yue, the woman his daughter had been named after.

Yue smiled at him, a little sadly. She looked exactly the way he had remembered her. Still sixteen years old, even though he was now thirty-five. Her white hair, beautifully braided, floating around her head like a halo, and her flowing white robes, rippling like she was underwater. Her eyes shone bright blue, like the color of the ocean on a sunny day. Like Sokka’s, and like his daughter’s.

“Hi, Sokka.” Yue glided towards him. “It’s been a long time.”

“It has.” Sokka’s voice was husky. He blinked back tears. He hasn’t seen her, the real her, since that night exactly two decades ago. Something heavy formed in his chest as he remembered their stolen glances at each other, their stolen walks in the moonlight. Stolen kisses that could never be repeated in the sunlight, because she had been engaged. And then that night, when she fulfilled her destiny. When she transformed into the spirit of the moon, and flew away into the night, and he had lost her forever. The crushing grief that had engulfed him then. It seemed like the universe always had some cruel way of keeping them apart.

“Don’t dwell too much on the past, Sokka,” Yue murmured, as if she could read his mind. “It won’t do either of us any good.”

“Don’t you ever wonder, though?” Sokka could feel the tears beginning to trickle down his face. “What could have been?”

“Of course I wonder.” Yue took his hand. She felt like a cool ripple of water. Images shimmered in the moonlight, appearing and fading just as quickly. Yue and Sokka at their wedding, Hahn and her father’s wishes conveniently out of the way. Welcoming their first child. And then another, and another. Ruling the Northern Water Tribe, the kindest and most just chiefs the people had ever seen. Growing old together, walking together in the moonlight, kissing and not caring who saw them.

Sokka took in a shaky breath, wiping his eyes. For just one fleeting moment, he had tasted absolute bliss. He loved the family he had now more than anything, but the alternate timeline he had peered into, where everything was different...there was nothing like your first love.

“I didn’t come here to give you regrets, Sokka,” Yue said. “We are people of the water. No matter what obstacles may change the course of our flow, we make our own path, carve our own canyons, and find the ocean eventually. Always.” 

Sokka nodded, trying to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat. “Why did you come here, then?”

Yue smiled a little and turned to look at where her home hung in the sky. “Do you know why the moon hangs so close to the Earth? It’s closer than any of the other celestial bodies.” The sadness tinged her eyes again. “The stories say that the moon spirit always has a mortal lover. That’s why she lives on the moon, where the heavens and the Earth are the closest. Close, but still so far apart.”

Sokka rested his hand on her cheek, and caught a glimpse of the future again. But it was different this time. Yue, cold and isolated, forever alone on the moon. Never aging a minute, while everyone she had ever known spent their mortal lives and wasted away. Forever reaching out towards the Earth but never reaching it, cursed to forever circle the world in a dance where the dancers never meet.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“Don’t be.” Yue’s tears were like drops of liquid moonstone. “I knew what I was taking on. I saved you and my people that night twenty years ago, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” 

She turned to face him again, her eyes shining like the silvery path of moonlight on the ocean’s surface. “You asked why I came here tonight. I just wanted to let you know I’ll always be with you. No matter what. Even though we’ll never be able to physically meet again, I’ll be with you.” She pulled him closer and their lips met. She tasted like the first dew at dawn and rainwater after a storm. Sokka felt something bright settle in his heart, and he pulled her closer, wrapping himself around her, never wanting to let go. But no one can capture moonlight. She was already dissolving into silver flecks of light, and it was just another stolen kiss. Sokka was left with nothing in his arms and only a lingering  _ farewell  _ in his ears.

His heart felt heavy, but he could still feel the brightness there. Like maybe a tiny sliver of the moon had lodged there. He cast one last look at the moon, just as silent and distant as before.

Sokka walked inside and sat down at his daughter’s bedside. “Can you tell me a bedtime story?” Yue murmured sleepily.

Sokka watched the shafts of moonlight shift across her face. “There once was a very kind and beautiful girl,” he began. “And she met a boy, and they loved each other very much. But one day an evil man attacked their tribe and killed the spirit of the moon. So the girl had to become the new moon spirit, and she flew away into the sky.”

Yue pouted. “That’s not a very happy story.”

“No,” Sokka agreed. “But it’s true.”

Yue gasped and rolled over to look at the moon peeking through her window. “Is the girl still there?”

“She is. And she’s always watching over you and protecting you. As long as the moon is in the sky, you’ll be safe.”

Yue giggled. “The moon is always in the sky.”

“Exactly.” Sokka brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her forehead. “Good night. Sleep well. The moon will chase away all the scary things.” He turned to go, and stopped in the doorway, looking back. Yue settled in under her blankets, bathed in moonlight. Sokka smiled, and closed the door, leaving the two of them to get to know each other.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/jedioncer?lang=en)  
> to hear me yell about other dumb things
> 
> please i want more atla friends


End file.
